Flexible coupling



June 19, 1945. D. R. LlGH f ,3

FLEXIBLE doUPLINe I Filed Jan. 13, 1944 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. DAV/D R. 4/0

D. LIGH.

. FLEXIBLE COUPLING June 19,1945. v

2 R t p G m h. m 0 S W 2 4. v 0 \n 7 Filed Jan. -1s,' 1944 Patented June 19, 1945 p v COUPLING:

amn; shgisi rtra, com-1., sacw industrial. Management, Incorporated," nart r nsmittance, 1944', Serial No. 518,058

My present invention: relates couplingiandimore pairticularly to the C'OIIStIllCm tion of male andafemale gearmemb c couplings i e v I" H v v It is an object of myr'n'esent. inventionto vide improved flexible couplings which ar a -adaptsedsto transmit relatively Igreat forces:

It is-,a,=. further object of my presenhzinvention tos-providewfiexible shaft couplingsiinvwhich the motion-transmitting gears are only slightly 7 jectedr-to rwearduring operation; a It is -'another -iobject a of my present qinventionto :provide, a i new type of. I-ball and a socketgear tooth construction.

- I It: is still another. object of ;my presentcinvem tion to tprovide a flexiblecoupling in which the motion transmitting shafts can be turned relative toeach-other between twofenct positions dif-- feri-ng fromaeachother bit-90 .with substantially v equal stress on the motion transmitting; parts'of.

the gears forming the coupling.

' Witnthe above objects in View; m i resent m,

vention mainly consists or a flexiblecoupling composed of two shaf.ts,. a ma1e gear \atthe-endof one shaft and a: femalegearats-the end-tot the other shafti-each of thesergears comprises a; gearbody having an at least substantial-1y circular front faoeand. aneat. least-substantially lcyl-i hdricalrperipheralface; the male gearvmentionedw above'is provided with equally spaced elongatedprojections arranged along. the periphery of its front face extending in -rad-ia1- direction thereof v suba and.-.the -female gear is prov-ided with.:.equally,

spaced corresponding elongated depressionsalong the peripheryofits frontface extendingin radial directionL-ofi this face and ''-opening also on the 1 periplroeralface. of the ie'male gear .v

The. -Y elongated. projections arranged on the front face of the male'gear arezpreferably semi pear shaped andarrangedtwiththeir widest parts nearthe periphery ;of the frontv face-oftthe; male gear. Theterm semipear shaped as: usedahove and; inLthe following.descriptionv and claim is in-,- tendednto .deflne a shapeobtained by dividing. a

ar lengthwise; 1 the thusobtained shape will be longitudinal and wider near one.,end thanxnear the other. Furthermore,'it is preferablertotmake' those: surface portionsgof the,iront facerofl this-- male n gear which arelocated between the above mentionedv v proj ectionsinclined -,.towardthe: pe-

ripheralflface of this gear so aslto improve its,

mcshwith-Ithe. corresponding female g'ean.

Onthe female gear, those surfacetportions ofk the front face which lie between'the above men i e b e t f e ressi ns; a e sl h y s s-,-

c (our-41's) I I I flexiblets'haft thus fitting "intdthercessesin the front face of the-corresponding male ge'ar which are formed-- by the inclination of this front face along its periphery'.--

The novel features which I consider as charac. teristiofor'my' invention are set" forth in particular. in ithe appendedibclaims. The invention itselfphoweveryihoth aszto'its construction and itsmethodof: operation, together with additional objects I and adx'rarit'ages thereof; will be best 1121? ders'tood from the following: description: of specific embodiments whenre'adin connection with.

the accompanying drawings; in which!" Figurel is'sa front'viiew ofa malegea-r; 4 Figure 2 is a -front .view of a female ge'ar;- 1

-Fig'ures3 isa crosssectionthrough a male and femalegear being in mesh with each other, alon linest t oftl'iigs; 51 and2; and a Figurek'is another crosssection-of a male-and female gear 'bein'ginmeshwith each other, along lined-'4 of Figs; 1 and 2.

shown in Figures 3 and 4, the new coupling consists of a malegearf It and a female gear H being'in mesh with each other. The male gear I0- is secured to theaend ofi shaft-II 2- by means of screw 5&3 and the femalevgear I I is secured to the endof -shaftrM' hymeans-oi a screw- :15. ,It is evident'and needs no' further explanation'that the two shafts l 2;.-l-3 can. 1be turned: relative to each other-about a pivoting axis lt without disengage I mentcofithe gearsdfland it. 1 l The male-geartl-ll eonsists Of a gear body I'l having asubstantiallycircular front face It and an: I annular-or cylindrical peripheral face l9. Substantiallysemi-pear shaped projections 2 0 are arranged on front facelfl of the male gear- I-ll equally spaced from each other, as shown in Figure 1. The widestportions 2] of these-projections 2ll-iare= located: near periphery 22 0f the frontface l8 I g I Furthermore-I wish to mention that these elemgated semi-pearshaperflprojections 20- are arranged inradi al-direction, ;i. e. facing with their narrow-end fl the center 240i front face l8.

As clearly-shownin Figuresil and 4, the surface-portions 25-ofront facel8 ofathe male gear lfl which are: located between the projections 20 areinclined toward the peripheralface l9. 'I hese surface'portions 25 form together a conical sur-v facelstripvarranged concentrically about the axis 26 0f the'malegear l 0., As-indicated in Figure 4 by'numeral 21, this-conical-surtace increase the surfaceoft theside faces 28 of the projections 20-,"thus enabling better mesh orthese projections with the-corresponding, depressions on the female gear IL This conical tapered surface might extend to the peripheral face l9; however, in order not to weaken the body I1 of the male gear I0 unnecessarily, I provide adjacent to the peripheral face IS a face 29 arranged parallel to the front face l8.

The female gear shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 comprises also a gear body 30, havinga front face 3| and a peripheral face 32. This female gear II is provided with depressions33 arranged in the front face 3| of this gear along the periphery 34 of the same opening on both this front face 3| and the peripheral face 32, as clearly shown in Figure 3. These depressions 33 are of substantially oblong shape and arrangedin the front face 3| along the periphery and entirely below the plane of the same extending in radial direction thereof.

As clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3, each of these depressions 33 is composed of a substantially cupshaped inner surface portion 38 and an outer:

surface portion 39 continually merging into said inner surface portion 38; thus, these inner and outer surface portions form one continuous surface portion 38--which maximal depth is deter-" mined by the distance between point 4| designating the bottom of the cup-shaped inner surface portion 38 and line 3| designating the front face of gear M. It is evident from the drawings that these two distances are at least ubstantially equal to each other, as described above.

Furthermore, the depth of this outer surface portion 39 in axial direction of gear II is substantially constant from the inner surface portion 38 to the peripheral face 32 of the gear. This is clearly shown in Figure 3 in which line 4|] designating the bottom ofthe outer surface portion 39 is substantially parallel to line 3| designating the front face of gear II from point 4| where the outer surface portion 39 merges into the inner surface portion 38 to point 42 where of line 40 and line 3| from each other-is substantially constant from point to point 42, i. e.

from the inner surface portion38 to the peripheral face 32.

Furthermore, the outer surface portion 39 of the depression 33 has a width normal to the radial direction in which the depression extends which at the inner end of the outer surface portion 39 where the same merges into-the substantially cup-shaped inner surface portion 38 is equal to the width of this inner surface portion 38 and increases toward the outer end 35 of the outer surface portion 39 where the same opens into the peripheral face 32 so that the Width of the outer surface portion 39 is substantially greater at the periphery of the front face 3| than where it merges into the inner surface portion 38.

dicates the inner width of the outer surface portion 39, i. e.-its width where it merges into the inner surface portion 38 and the distance be v This is also clearly shown in Fig. 2, where the distance between points 43 and 44 in tween the points 45 and 46 indicates the outer width of the outer surface portion 39, i. e. its width where it opens into the peripheral face 32. Since this distance between the points 45 and 46 is substantially greater than the distance between the points 43 and 44, it is evident that the width of the outer surface portion increases as, stated above. Of course, from this fact it also follows'that the'width of the depression 33 increases from its inner end 36 toward its outer end 35 and at its outer end is about twice as great as near its inner end 36.

These depressions 33 of the female gear engage the projections 20 of the male gear I0 as shown in Figures 3 and 4. It is evident from these figures that by shaping the depressions and projections as proposed herewith, engagement of the same is greatly improved. 1

I may also provide between the depressions 33 on the front face 3| of this female gear small slightly raised surface-portions 31. During operation of the gears, these raised portions 3'! of the front face 3| engage the side faces 28 of the pro jections 20 on the male gear l0, thereby increasing the motion transmitting contact between the two gears.

I wish to mention explicitly that the single elements of my above described gears have also certain advantages independently from each other: thus, operative engagement of cooperating gears is increased by shaping the projections 20 in the manner described above, also without providing tapered surface portions 25 between the same; on the other hand, such tapered surface portions 25 on the male gear II] also have certain advantages in combination with the raised surface portions 31 on the female gear independently from the shape of the projections 20. However, I wish to stress that I have found the combination claimed herewith particularly advantageous and the same constitutes one of the preferred embodiments of my present invention.

It will beunderstood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of flexible couplings differing from the types described above;

While I have illustrated and described the invention as embodied in ball and socket type of flexible couplings, I do not intend to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of my invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist'of my invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fair-- 1y constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

I claim:

' 1. A flexible coupling comprising two shafts, a male gear at the end of one of said shafts, a female gear at the end of the other of said shafts, said gears being in mesh and engaging each other, each of said gears comprising a gear body having an at least substantially circular front face and an at least substantially cylindrical peripheral face, said male gear being provided with than at and near their inner ends, said depresequally spaced projections arranged along the periphery of its front face, and said female gear being provided with equally spaced depressions along the periphery of its front face extending in radial direction thereof, said depressions opening on said front face and opening also on said peripheral face of said female gear, and the surface portions of said front face between said depressions being slightly raised, thus improving the mesh'of said female gear with said male gear.

2. A flexible coupling comprising two shafts, a male gear at the end of one of said shafts, a female gear at the end of the other of said shafts, said gears being in mesh and engaging each other, each of said gears comprising a gear body having an at least substantially circular front face and an at least substantially cylindrical peripheral face, said male gear being provided with equally spaced projections arranged along the periphery of its front face, the surface portions of said front face between said projections being inclined toward said peripheral face of said male gear, and said female ear being provided with equally spaced depressions along the periphery of its front face extending in radial direction there'- of, said depressions opening on said front face and opening alsoon-said peripheral face of said female gear.

3. A flexible coupling comprising two shafts, a male gear at the endof one of said shafts, a female gear at the end of theother of said shafts, said gears being in mesh and engaging each other, each of said gears comprising a gear body havsions opening on said front face and opening also on the peripheral face of said female gear, the surface portions of said front face between said oblong depressions being slightly raised, thus improving the mesh of said female gear with another gear.

5. A female gear comprising a gear body having an at least substantially circular front face and an at least substantially cylindrical eriph-' eral face, said female gear being provided with equally spaced depressions along the periphery of its front face each of said depressions being ing an at least substantially circular front face and an at least substantially cylindrical peripheral face, said male gear being provided with equally spaced projections arranged along the.

periphery of its front face, the surface portions of said'front' face between said projections beingv tapered towardsaid peripheral face of said male gear, and said female gear being provided with equally spaced depressions alongthe periphery of its front face extending in radial direction thereof, said depressions opening on said front face and opening also on said peripheral face'of said female gear, and the surface portions of said front face between said depressions being slightly raised, .thus improving the mesh of said female vgear with said male gear.

, eral face, said femalegear being provided with substantially wider at its outer end than at and 1 near its inner end, and, the surface portions of said front face between said depressions being slightly raised, thus improving the mesh of said female gear with another gear.

6. A male gear comprising a gear body having an at least substantially circular front face and an at least substantially cylindrical peripheral face, said male gear being provided with equally spaced semi-pear shaped oblong projections arranged along the periphery of said front face of said gear extendingin radial direction thereof with their widest parts near said periphery of said front face.

7. A male gear comprising a male gear body having an at least substantially circular front face and an at least substantially cylindrical peripheral face, said male gear being provided with equally spaced semi-pear shaped oblong projections arranged along the periphery of said front face of said gear extending in radial direction thereof with their widest parts near said periphcry of said front face, and the surface portions of said; face between said oblong semi-pear shaped projections being tapered toward said peripheral face of said gearforming conical'surface portions between said oblong semi-pear shaped radially arranged projections along said periphery of said front face of said gear.

, said gear body extending in radial directionof equally spaced oblong depressions along the periphery of its front face extending in radial direction thereof and being substantially wider normal to said radial direction at their outer ends said circular fiat front face, and the surface portions of said circular flat front face between said oblong projections being tapered toward said peripheral face of said gear body forming conical surface portions between said oblong radially arranged projections along said periphery of said circular fiat front face of said gear body.

DAVID R. LIGH. 

